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The winter fuel payment is aimed at helping pensioners pay for higher fuel bills during the colder months. 

About 11.5 million pensioners will receive up to £600 – this amount includes a £300 per household pensioner cost of living payment.

Here is everything you need to know about when and how the payment will be made, who is eligible, and what to do if you don’t receive your payment.

Who is eligible for the winter fuel payment?

You can get a winter fuel payment if you were born before 25 September 1957.

You usually need to live in the UK to qualify for the payment.

But if you moved to an eligible country before 1 January 2021, and have a “genuine and sufficient link to the UK” – such as living and working here previously – you will qualify.

The eligible countries are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, and Switzerland.

There are some cases where you will not be eligible, including if you have been in hospital for all of the last year, if you were in prison for the whole of the week of 18 to 24 September 2023, and if you lived in a care home for the whole time from 26 June to 24 September 2023.

How much is the winter fuel payment?

The winter fuel payment is between £250 and £600.

If you live alone or no one you live with is eligible for the winter fuel payment, you will get either:

• £500 if you were born between 25 September 1943 and 24 September 1957
• £600 if you were born before 25 September 1943

If you live with someone else who is eligible for the winter fuel payment, the payment may be split between the two of you.

Exactly how that is done depends on when you were born and what benefits you receive.

Your payment may be different if you receive one of these benefits: pension credit, income-based jobseeker’s allowance (JSA), income-related employment and support allowance (ESA), and income support.

If you and your partner jointly claim any of these benefits, one of you will get a payment of £500 if both of you were born between 25 September 1943 and 24 September 1957, or £600 if one or both of you were born before 25 September 1943.

If you do not claim the benefits jointly, you will get an individual payment: again, £500 if you were born between 25 September 1943 and 24 September 1957 or £600 if you were born before 25 September 1943.

If you do not get any of the benefits, you will get a payment of either:

• £250 if you and the person you live with were both born between 25 September 1943 and 24 September 1957
• £250 if you were born between 25 September 1943 and 24 September 1957 but the person you live with was born before 25 September 1943
• £350 if you were born before 25 September 1943 but the person you live with was born between 25 September 1943 and 24 September 1957
• £300 if you and the person you live with were both born before 25 September 1943.

Care home residents can still get the payment, but it is less.

Eligible care home residents will get £250 if they were born between 25 September 1943 and 24 September 1957 and £300 if they were born before 25 September 1943.

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How do you get the winter fuel payment?

Most people get the winter fuel payment automatically.

If you’re eligible, you should have received a letter in October or November saying how much you’ll get.

You will get the payment automatically if you receive the state pension or another benefit, including pension credit, attendance allowance, personal independence payment (PIP), carers allowance, disability living allowance (DLA), income support, income-related employment and support allowance (ESA), income-based jobseeker’s allowance (JSA), awards from the war pensions scheme, industrial injuries disablement benefit, incapacity benefit, and industrial death benefit.

If you do not get any of these, you will need to claim – but only if you’ve not got the payment before.

You’ll also need to make a claim if you have deferred your state pension since your last winter fuel payment. Details on how to claim by post or phone are on the government website.

When is the winter fuel payment paid?

The winter fuel payment will be paid directly into your bank account in November or December.

It will appear in bank statements with the payment reference starting with the customer’s National Insurance number followed by ‘DWP WFP’ for people in Great Britain, or ‘DFC WFP’ for people in Northern Ireland.

What should you do if the payment doesn’t come through?

If you do not get a letter or the money has not been paid into your account by 26 January 2024, contact the winter fuel payment centre.

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Pizza Hut to shut 68 restaurants in UK after company behind venues falls into administration

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Pizza Hut to shut 68 restaurants in UK after company behind venues falls into administration

Pizza Hut is to close 68 restaurants and 11 delivery sites with the loss of more than 1,200 jobs after the company behind its UK venues fell into administration.

The company has said 1,210 workers are being made redundant as part of the closures.

DC London Pie, the firm running Pizza Hut’s restaurants in the UK, appointed administrators from corporate finance firm FTI on Monday.

It comes less than a year after the business bought the chain’s restaurants from insolvency.

On Monday, American hospitality giant Yum! Brands, which owns the global Pizza Hut business, said it had bought the UK restaurant operation in a pre-pack administration deal – a rescue deal that will save 64 sites and secure the future of 1,276 workers.

A spokesperson for Pizza Hut UK confirmed the Yum! deal and said as a result it was “pleased to secure the continuation of 64 sites to safeguard our guest experience and protect the associated jobs.

“Approximately 2,259 team members will transfer to the new Yum! equity business under UK TUPE legislation, including above-restaurant leaders and support teams.”

Nicolas Burquier, Managing Director of Pizza Hut Europe and Canada, called Monday’s agreement a “targeted acquisition” which, he said, “aims to safeguard our guest experience and protect jobs where possible.

“Our immediate priority is operational continuity at the acquired locations and supporting colleagues through the transition.”

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The administration came after HMRC filed a winding up petition on Friday against DC London Pie.

DC London Pie was the company formed after Directional Capital, which operated franchises in Sweden and Denmark, snapped up 139 UK restaurants from the previous UK franchisee Heart with Smart Limited in January of this year.

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Business

Bank of England job fears as Andrew Bailey warns of tough choices

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Bank of England job fears as Andrew Bailey warns of tough choices

Staff at the Bank of England are on alert for potential job cuts in Threadneedle Street after the governor, Andrew Bailey, warned of tough decisions about the institution’s future cost base.

Sky News has learnt that Mr Bailey informed Bank of England employees in a memo last week that it was taking a detailed look at costs, although it did not specifically refer to the prospect of redundancies.

One source said the memo had been sent while Mr Bailey was attending the International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting in Washington.

Its precise wording was unclear on Monday, but one source said it had warned of “tough choices” that would need to be made as the bank accelerated its investment in new technology.

They added that managers had been briefed to expect to have to make savings of between 6% and 8% of their operating budgets.

The Bank of England employed 5,810 people at the end of February, of whom just over 5,000 were full-time, according to its annual report.

Those numbers were marginally higher than in the previous year.

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The central bank’s budget, funded through a levy, is expected to be £596m in the current financial year.

The workforce figures include the Prudential Regulation Authority, Britain’s main banking regulator, which is set to get a new boss next year when Sam Woods steps down after two terms in the role.

A Bank of England spokesperson declined to comment on the contents of Mr Bailey’s memo.

They also declined to provide details of the timing of any previous rounds of redundancies at the bank.

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Business

Pizza Hut to shut 68 restaurants in UK after company behind venues falls into administration

Published

on

By

Pizza Hut to shut 68 restaurants in UK after company behind venues falls into administration

Pizza Hut is to close 68 restaurants and 11 delivery sites with the loss of more than 1,200 jobs after the company behind its UK venues fell into administration.

The company has said 1,210 workers are being made redundant as part of the closures.

DC London Pie, the firm running Pizza Hut’s restaurants in the UK, appointed administrators from corporate finance firm FTI on Monday.

It comes less than a year after the business bought the chain’s restaurants from insolvency.

On Monday, American hospitality giant Yum! Brands, which owns the global Pizza Hut business, said it had bought the UK restaurant operation in a pre-pack administration deal – a rescue deal that will save 64 sites and secure the future of 1,276 workers.

A spokesperson for Pizza Hut UK confirmed the Yum! deal and said as a result it was “pleased to secure the continuation of 64 sites to safeguard our guest experience and protect the associated jobs.

“Approximately 2,259 team members will transfer to the new Yum! equity business under UK TUPE legislation, including above-restaurant leaders and support teams.”

Nicolas Burquier, Managing Director of Pizza Hut Europe and Canada, called Monday’s agreement a “targeted acquisition” which, he said, “aims to safeguard our guest experience and protect jobs where possible.

“Our immediate priority is operational continuity at the acquired locations and supporting colleagues through the transition.”

Read more on Sky News:
Andrew ‘should live in exile’
What’s affected by internet outage
Blind patients regain sight

The administration comes around six weeks after a subsidiary of Yum! filed a winding up petition against DC London Pie.

DC London Pie was the company formed after Directional Capital, which operated franchises in Sweden and Denmark, snapped up 139 UK restaurants from the previous UK franchisee Heart with Smart Limited in January of this year.

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